Get on board: riding the L.A. rails.

It all depends on who you associate with railroads. If Casey Jones fuming over the boiler, roaring over the cacophony of a grimy engine, doing its level best to blow itself to pieces is your romantic ideal, the Amtrak to San Diego is probably your cup of tea. If, however, John D. Rockefeller comes to mind sedately surveying his domain and dining on haute cuisine in comforts worthy of a provincial castle, then a voyage with "Uncommon Journeys" may be in the cards for you.

For most people, the idea of train travel is flavored with a certain mystique evoked by childhood memories and usually reinforced by images of intrigue from the movies.

This mystique is fueled by nostalgia for pre-space age times when life was simpler and slower and the nation moved by rail. "Americans love the idea of taking the train, but only in theory," said Christopher Kyte, chairman of Uncommon Journeys, a San Francisco-based travel business. "People like them until they get on a public train and find out that it's dirty and that the staff is rude."

Kyte, whose family background is in shipping and the hotel industry, researched the market and found that not only was there demand for more sophisticated rail travel but also that no one was offering an alternative to Amtrak. Determined to fill that niche, in 1987, Kyte purchased the "Houston" and the "Los Angeles" two legendary luxury rail cars built in the 1920's from Southern Pacific Railroad. "We always thought that there would be a market for people who like trains but who wanted a much better quality than Amtrak can or will provide," said Kyte.

Both the "Houston" and the "Los Angeles" have carried many illustrious personages in the seven decades of their existence. "Los Angeles" was used as Robert Kennedy's campaign train in 1968.

General Douglas MacArthur traveled on it too, as have members of the British nobility. Lyndon Johnson stretched out his lanky frame aboard the "Houston" before becoming president and George Bush, then a congressman from Houston, also found it to his liking. Said Kyte, "In their era, the trains were what the Concorde is today: a symbol of wealth and privileged."

Today's clients run the gamut from the eccentric Hollywood actress who won't travel without an electric pinball machine, to the wealthy couple who charters one of the cars each December for a Christmas shopping trip to Chicago.

Then there was the British Duke who worried whether the train kitchen gourmet operation might manage to prepare fried egg sandwiches for lunch for himself and the Duchess.

Previously used by railroad executives for entertaining VIP clients and for traveling on company business, the "Houston" and the "Los Angeles" (so named for the cities they were based in originally) now criss-cross the United States and Canada along the most scenic routes in pursuit of pleasures sadly missing from the modern era.

The only connection Kyte's luxury liners share with Amtrak is that they are coupled to the same diesel engines. Rumbling along the rails, these luxuriant coaches envelop their riders in dream-like luxury that quickly leaves the grime and stresses of urban life far behind.

Administered through Abercrombie & Kent, the carriages are available for private charter for any length of time and to any destination. Toronto, New Orleans, Seattle, Washington, D.C., Houston, Miami and many other cities within the North American rail network are serviced.

Each car sleeps up to seven adults on overnight journeys, but can accommodate between 8 and 10 passengers on day-trips. For larger parties, both the "Houston" and the "Los Angeles" can be operated together.

For groups of 20 to 30, other cars built in the "Golden Days of Rail" can be added. In addition to chartered journeys, several four- to thirteen-day tours designed to accommodate individual travelers are regularly scheduled for departure throughout the year.

The essential function of these "first-class hotels on tracks" is to offer discerning passengers all the amenities they have come to expect from stationary four-star establishments.

Three permanent crew members, a chef, a steward and a concierge travel on the trains, attending to passengers' wishes throughout the day. The opulent decor of soft carpeting, rich wood paneling, damask chairs, silk bed spreads and marble table tops, contributes to the overall ambience of glamour and sophistication.

Antique furniture abounds. "Houston" features Hepplewhite chairs and leaded-glass insets in the mahogany breakfront in the formal dining room.

The "Los Angeles" slightly roomier and airier with its white lacquer decor provides the definitive Hollywood cachet epitomized by crystal chandeliers and mirrored walls.

Each carriage contains two master bedrooms with double beds, a single bedroom and a compartment with one upper and one lower berth. Passengers can relax in the lounge or take in the breeze and panoramic view on the open-air observation deck.

Bedrooms in both cars feature built-in dressers, nightstands, full-length mirrors and complete in-room facilities.

Showers are shared, and bathrobes, hair dryers, curling irons and other such amenities are furnished. Similar to accommodations on a luxury yacht, the staterooms are petite but comfortable. Having said that, it should be noted that the "Houston's" master suite is in fact the largest bedroom on a train in North America.

Measuring 8 x 17 feet, it exceeds the compartment aboard the Royal Train the Queen of England travels in during visits to Canada.

But anyone who has boarded the "Houston" or "Los Angeles" will concur that dining in truly presidential fashion is one of the most extraordinary experiences recommending a rediscovery of rail travel. The gourmet cuisine is miraculously prepared in a 'thumb-nail' kitchen under the direction of Regina Charboneau of Regina's in San Francisco. "There are at least a dozen clients who've been on board at least ten times," said Kyte. "But their first question usually is 'who's the chef going to be?' The destination itself is way down on the list of things they're concerned about."

A lavish dinner served recently aboard the "Houston" included such delicacies as caviar on toast rounds a la Russe, cream of lobster bisque, grenadine of veal Milanese and chocolate souffle with framboise sauce. Cocktails are served before the meal, and after-dinner mints, fresh fruit and cheeses and coffee or tea round off each culinary feast. An espresso and capucchino machine percolates merrily at all times of the day.

All meals and drinks are included in one price and consist of breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea. Dinner, served at a formal table setting featuring original 1930s railroad china, tends to be a more elegant affair; candle-lit with soft background music. A wide selection of wines, liquors, soft drinks and mixed drinks completes the service.

Kyte believes it' is "Uncommon Journeys" attention to detail that makes his rail journeys a special experience. "When people board, there's a gift from Gumps waiting for them; there's a different bedtime story on their pillow each night. There are masses of fresh flowers all over the cars. It's a lot of little things, but everything good is made up of a lot of little things."

This sentiment is echoed by Mrs. Jan Burrus of Garden Grove, who recently traveled aboard the "Houston" on a tour through the Canadian Rockies with her husband. "It was simply a wonderful, wonderful, trip," Mrs. Burrus reported. "We were picked up at the door with a limousine and whisked off to Union Station. When we got aboard, we had an absolutely beautiful gift in each state-room from Gumps and chocolates waiting for us.

There's a steward who waits on you all day, then there's afternoon tea with hors d'oeuvres...and the chef is absolutely four-star. In my life, I've never had better meals."

The Burrus' are already booked for their next excursion: a thirteen-day trip which is called for obvious reasons "The Ultimate Conveyance." The tour begins in Los Angeles with a cross-country passage to New York where clients overnight at the Waldorf Towers.

The next day, a limo takes them to the QE2 for the North Atlantic crossing to Southampton. A sojourn at the Ritz in London follows, and finally, a return to the States via a three hour flight on the Concorde. Cost: $12,550 per person.

"I know this sounds trite, but it's really an extraordinary value," said Kyte, sounding only slightly apologetic. "If you consider that the Concorde is $4,500, the QE2 about the same and then a luxury train cross-country trip, it's not that bad." Burrus added it's worth the ticket price but admits "it's outrageously expensive. But on our first trip, I personally didn't feel that anything could have been done any better. Everything was top of the line."

Not all scheduled tours are quite as elaborate as "The Ultimate Conveyance." The six-day Glacier Park Flyer journey through the Canadian Rockies, for instance, sells for $3,350 per person, and the four-day Classic Winter Getaway to Scottsdale, Arizona goes for $2,895. Charter rates can be lower, but costs vary according to number of days and passengers, distance to be traveled, start and end points and any special requests or events scheduled along the way. Itinerary, meals and service can be entirely custom-tailored for any chartered party. While scheduled tours are generally more formal, charters can be as formal or as unstructured as desired.

Among the most popular trips from Southern California are the day trip to San Francisco and the overnight ride to Scottsdale, Sedona or the Grand Canyon. Also in demand is the passage to New Orleans, Kyte's personal favorite. "The majority of our trips are overnight," he said. "It makes sense. To really get the experience of a train, an overnight trip is helpful. You can watch the country go by, then have a nice dinner, settle into your berth and wake up the next morning in beautiful surroundings."

For many clients, a rail ride is simply a convenient way to get away from it all. A senior official in the Canadian government, for instance, makes a trip to Washington D.C. every fall and spends the whole journey relaxing in a terrycloth robe. "For anyone really busy, being away from phones and beepers does not strike them as an altogether bad idea," said Kyte.

While about 60 percent of Kyte's business comes from purely 'pleasure travelers,' corporate clients are increasingly interested in his rail cars. The carriages have been used for corporate getaways, incentive trips and even the occasional board meeting. There have been product launches as well as "rolling" fund raisers. And, most impressively.

Kyte's splendid carriages have been chartered to deliver executives to the Superbowl, when no hotel rooms could be found within a 50 mile radius.

"It's a great way for a chairman or a CEO to not only get to the game but to also have very deluxe lodgings," said Kyte. "And it's also great publicity because he or she can invite their peers in for lunch or dinner. Few people are going to turn down an invitation for dinner on a luxury train. There's clearly a uniqueness to it."

For more information, or to obtain a color brochure on the carriages with details of the scheduled tours and charter programs on the "Houston" and the "Los Angeles," call Abercrombie & Kent at [phone].

Andrea and David Peevers are travel writers and photographers based in West Los Angeles.